Got my compass today (and some chickens)
He showed up at nearly 7PM, but the uPS guy brought my reproduction surveyor's compass today. Jeff and Louise had stayed for dinner after work, so Jeff and I had a chance to take a look at it before they left.
It's a pretty good copy of an early compass, they only way it would be better is if it had a wooden box instead of a brass one. There is a small problem with it in that the vernier is not lined up with the compass points properly, but I'm pretty sure I can adjust it if I am careful. We took a look at the photo of Samuel Lane's compass and stand that I've got here in a book, and roughly figured out how to build one using the same techniques that were used in the 18th century. It's an odd shape, the head of the tripod isn't sheet iron like you would expect, it is a wooden ball that has slots cut in it for the legs. It doesn't have adjustable legs either, you compensate for a slope by spreading one of the legs further apart than the others. Funky. Next week the 1/2 chain should arrive and we'll be in the surveying business, 18th century style.
On a louder note, thi morning I took a ride up to Unity, a town to the north of here. A friend of a friend had a surplus of critters and wanted to get rid of them. I came home with 31 assorted chickens, 4 rabbits and 4 fancy pigeons.
The rabbits went into the rabbit shed that Jeff pretty much finished off today. The pigeons did too, at least for the next few days until I can decide what we are going to do with them. We may keep them, we may give them away, we may just eat them. Caleigh was pretty excited about them, so we may be keeping them.
The chickens, however, are another story. I locked them up in the chicken house for the day so they will imprint on it and go back to it at night. There is food and water in there, and I stuffed a couple of our existing birds in there with them tonight to show them the ropes. I think I'll try letting them out in the morning to see what they do, or I may give them another day in there. Once they figure out that this is theri new home, they will go back in every night. The trick is to get thme to understand that this is home now.
Pete Knight dropped off a folding gun rack that Paulie and I will be taking to the gun show in West Lebanon, NH this weekend. It's a copy of one that Paulie had fished out of his attic. It holds 10 muskets, but folds up fairly small. With the two racks, we can display 20 long guns plus some accessories on a single gun show table. We had wanted three tables, but there ws only one available unless someone backs out.
He's going to use the same basic design on a new permanent gun display rack for here in the gun room. It will hold them securely and allow enough space to make a better display of them. It's a pretty big and constantly growing collection. Who knows what may follow me home from the show this weekend! As you are probably aware, I'm a fan of WW2 bolt guns. So far, I've got 4 different Mausers, 3 different Enfields, and WW2 era rifles from Japan, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Russia, China and the US. That doesn't even get into the muzzleloaders, both repro and original.
I outgrew a standard gun rack long ago and went to a big metal cabinet. When I outgrew that back in Lowell, I converted a closet to a gun storage area. One of the charms of this place was the concrete walled subterranian room that serves as "the gun room". One of the first things we did upon buying the house was to add a steel door and a dehumidifier, thus creating a perfect gun storage room. Now with better racks on the way, it only gets better!
Happy Thanksgiving all!
If you are ever in the area and want to come check the collection out and maybe even shoot a few of them, just give us a call and come on over!
It's a pretty good copy of an early compass, they only way it would be better is if it had a wooden box instead of a brass one. There is a small problem with it in that the vernier is not lined up with the compass points properly, but I'm pretty sure I can adjust it if I am careful. We took a look at the photo of Samuel Lane's compass and stand that I've got here in a book, and roughly figured out how to build one using the same techniques that were used in the 18th century. It's an odd shape, the head of the tripod isn't sheet iron like you would expect, it is a wooden ball that has slots cut in it for the legs. It doesn't have adjustable legs either, you compensate for a slope by spreading one of the legs further apart than the others. Funky. Next week the 1/2 chain should arrive and we'll be in the surveying business, 18th century style.
On a louder note, thi morning I took a ride up to Unity, a town to the north of here. A friend of a friend had a surplus of critters and wanted to get rid of them. I came home with 31 assorted chickens, 4 rabbits and 4 fancy pigeons.
The rabbits went into the rabbit shed that Jeff pretty much finished off today. The pigeons did too, at least for the next few days until I can decide what we are going to do with them. We may keep them, we may give them away, we may just eat them. Caleigh was pretty excited about them, so we may be keeping them.
The chickens, however, are another story. I locked them up in the chicken house for the day so they will imprint on it and go back to it at night. There is food and water in there, and I stuffed a couple of our existing birds in there with them tonight to show them the ropes. I think I'll try letting them out in the morning to see what they do, or I may give them another day in there. Once they figure out that this is theri new home, they will go back in every night. The trick is to get thme to understand that this is home now.
Pete Knight dropped off a folding gun rack that Paulie and I will be taking to the gun show in West Lebanon, NH this weekend. It's a copy of one that Paulie had fished out of his attic. It holds 10 muskets, but folds up fairly small. With the two racks, we can display 20 long guns plus some accessories on a single gun show table. We had wanted three tables, but there ws only one available unless someone backs out.
He's going to use the same basic design on a new permanent gun display rack for here in the gun room. It will hold them securely and allow enough space to make a better display of them. It's a pretty big and constantly growing collection. Who knows what may follow me home from the show this weekend! As you are probably aware, I'm a fan of WW2 bolt guns. So far, I've got 4 different Mausers, 3 different Enfields, and WW2 era rifles from Japan, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Russia, China and the US. That doesn't even get into the muzzleloaders, both repro and original.
I outgrew a standard gun rack long ago and went to a big metal cabinet. When I outgrew that back in Lowell, I converted a closet to a gun storage area. One of the charms of this place was the concrete walled subterranian room that serves as "the gun room". One of the first things we did upon buying the house was to add a steel door and a dehumidifier, thus creating a perfect gun storage room. Now with better racks on the way, it only gets better!
Happy Thanksgiving all!
If you are ever in the area and want to come check the collection out and maybe even shoot a few of them, just give us a call and come on over!
posted by MVTCoPete | 11:06 PM
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